Solman Paving the Way for Vanuatu Women’s Cricket

Vanuatu national women’s cricket team captain, Selina Solman, is currently in Adelaide on player placement with the Southern District Stingrays under the proud sponsorship of FairBreak Gobal in support of gender equality.

FairBreak Global is an organization that aims to create opportunities for women in sports, business, media and education to achieve gender equality and they along with Vanuatu Cricket and the Southern District Stingrays are supporting Solman in boosting her cricketing career.

Solman is the first national women’s cricketer from Vanuatu to go on an international player placement and play premier first grade cricket in Australia and she will be coached by former Vanuatu Cricket volunteer, Llewelyn Hoy and Vanuatu national men’s captain, Andrew Mansale.

She has been selected based on her experience and skills which has set her not only as the captain of the national women’s side but also as the leading player in the team.

Shane Deitz, a former cricket player for the Southern District Stingrays and Vanuatu Cricket’s national head coach, said that Solman will benefit from this experience but at the same time she is carrying the huge responsibility of showing other cricket clubs and people around the world that there is a lot of talent in Vanuatu.

“This opportunity means that she (Selina) will have some great games on grass pitches and play against some state and international players. This will give her experience and Andrew Mansale, our Men’s captain is also at the club and will help her work on her game whilst there too,” said Deitz.

The experience Solman will gain will also benefit the rest of the national players in Vanuatu as she plays one of the leading roles in the team which means that she is tasked with sharing whatever she will learn during her time in Australia with the team once she is back.

“We (Vanuatu Cricket) need to have more girls go on placements like this because it will allow them to experience playing on turf wickets and playing conditions that are similar to the conditions they will face when playing international matches which is why Selina being there is so important,” said national women’s head coach, Eddie Mansale.

While Solman is in Australia paving the way for other Vanuatu women’s cricketers, Deitz expressed that players who remain and are training in Vanuatu need to step up their game and improve as cricketers in order to be ready for these opportunities when they are presented to them as being on placement can either go really well or really bad for a player.

“I would love more players to have these opportunities but two things need to happen. First, the girls here improve to a certain level and show me they are ready as it can go badly too if the player isn’t ready and will stop further players getting those opportunities. Secondly, it costs money from us and the clubs in Australia so both sides need to fund it and see benefits for it. The clubs in Australia like us have strict budgets so we have to try and work together,” concluded Deitz.

These opportunities are great female development for Vanuatu Cricket and in accordance with the aim of FairBreak global, promotes gender equality in the sport of cricket specifically in Vanuatu.